


In a dangerous time

by smaragdbird



Category: Reign of Fire (2002)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Death, Dragons, M/M, Post-Apocalypse, Survival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-09-12
Packaged: 2017-11-05 07:42:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/403990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world burned to ashes by dragons the little community of survivors in Northumberland has settled well enough. Then, however, news come that the Edinburgh community has been destroyed and the council formed of all communities left in Great Britain has to be informed. Quinn sends Creedy out but when he returns Quinn has fallen ill and so the duty to represent Northumberland falls to Creedy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Waiting for the sky to fall

**Author's Note:**

> Very, very big thanks to my two artists [](http://lady-ganesh.livejournal.com/profile)[**lady_ganesh**](http://lady-ganesh.livejournal.com/) and [](http://whogate.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://whogate.livejournal.com/)**whogate**. They have both done a more than incredible job ad put up with me through it all. You are awesome guys, both of you :)
> 
> Written for [](http://smallfandombang.livejournal.com/profile)[**smallfandombang**](http://smallfandombang.livejournal.com/)
> 
> A wonderful [ fanmix ](http://lady-ganesh.livejournal.com/212062.html), by [](http://lady-ganesh.livejournal.com/profile)  
> [](http://lady-ganesh.livejournal.com/)  
> **lady_ganesh**  
>  which this fic owns it titles to
> 
> and
> 
> an equally fantastic [wallpaper ](http://whogate.livejournal.com/3625.html), by [](http://whogate.livejournal.com/profile)  
> [ **whogate** ](http://whogate.livejournal.com/)  
> 

Disaster never gave notice ahead. A bright and sunny day could end with thousands of dead people and a rainy and grey day with laughter and declarations of love and devotion.

This morning was average. It was neither sunny nor rainy and not particularly cold or warm either. Quinn had had the graveyard watch and now lay wrapped in two blankets in his bed and waited for sleep to come. The side of the bed he was lying in was still warm with Creedy’s leftover body heat and the night had been quiet, with winter approaching fast the dragons stayed in more and more.

But even in near sleep, Quinn’s mind busied itself with questions: the new whole in the fence, how to ration the food so that everyone would have enough, who would join the groups that ventured out in the abandoned settlements to secure whatever was left, the unusual silence from Edinburgh…

Quinn stretched out and tried to block the questions. Undisturbed sleep without a bed partner with annoyingly sharp elbows and cold feet was a luxury that Quinn wanted to take advantage of.

In the meanwhile, said bed partner with the sharp elbows and cold feet was out in the open with Eddie and a few others while trying to stay in contact with Ajay over the radio.

Ajay had picked up an emergency signal not too far from the castle, probably coming from a group of marauders or travellers that had been attacked by a dragon.

Quinn’s orders in such a case where clear and approved by the Council and therefore there had been no need to wake him up.

“Ask him if he’s still getting the signal”, Quinn ordered Lin, who was in charge of the radio, mostly because she was the only one beside Ajay who was able to make the damn thing work.

Lin did and listened to Ajay’s answer before she nodded.

They reached the hill comp and saw the wreck. It had been a tent settlement, most likely a few families trying to survive by staying on their feet until their luck had run out.

“Lin, you stay here and watch out. Stay in contact with Ajay and tell him to stay in contact with Barlow. The rest comes with me.”

They climbed down, everyone with their eyes on the sky. It was unlikely that the dragon would come back after having fed but one could never know.

There was not much left. Dragon’s ate ashes after all.

“We have something!” Chris called. It was a metal box, big enough to hide two or three humans. They could withstand the dragon’s fire usually but more often than not they killed the people they contained with lack of oxygen because the opening mechanism was tricky and often failed to work.

“Hello?” Sam knocked against the box, “Anyone there?”

They could hear muffled sounds from inside.

Creedy and Eddie both took an axe and began to work on the seams of the box. It was difficult work, one rushed move could likely cut through the metal too deeply and injure one of the people inside.

Finally the seams gave out and they pulled the top off. Four people were inside: a man, a woman and two boys. Creedy and Eddie helped them out and Samira, the closest they had to a proper doctor, examined them.

“Thank you”, the man wheezed, “I’m Paddy, and this is my son Willem. These are Claire and Liam.”

“You’re travellers”, Creedy said. It wasn’t a question.

“No, not really. We lived in Sandhoe until we ran out of food. There were rumours about a settlement for a few years, so we decided to take the chance before we would starve to death.”

“You found us”, Eddie said impatiently, “Creedy, we need to move.”

“Right, Samira?”

“They seem fine enough. Were any of you ill when you left your hide?” She asked Paddy. The other three seemed to be too dazed to answer any questions.

“No one. We lost or people to infected wounds and dragons, not to illnesses.”  
“Good. You can walk?” Paddy nodded at Creedy’s question. He took his son while Chris carried Liam and Creedy helped Claire. She was pretty, especially by their world’s standards with the general lack of soap and other utilities for personal hygiene.

Lin joined them. Creedy could hear her speak to Ajay, “They found four: a man, a woman and two boys.” Ajay answered something which Creedy couldn’t understand. “You wouldn’t.” She laughed. Then she caught Creedy’s look and said, “Sorry, batteries, you know. See you later.”

 

 

“Quinn! Quinn!” Was Quinn’s only warning before Jared barrelled through the door and jumped onto the bed.

“Quinn! Creedy’s back! And Barlow said that they found someone!”

Quinn was awake instantly. Sixteen years of living in a burning world had seen to that. He grabbed a jumper, which turned out to be one of Creedy’s, and pulled it over his head while running upstairs.

Nearly everyone crowded the hall when Creedy and his group came back in. Four survivors were not much but at least it meant that there were still people out there, that the four settlements they knew of where not the only ones.

Ajay joined Quinn and before Quinn could even open his mouth Ajay said, “Don’t worry. Michael’s taken over the radio for me.”

“You heard anything from Edinburgh yet?”

“Not since they said they were going to send Abby. But you know that doesn’t have to mean anything.” No it didn’t, communications were shaky at best. That’s why they had the messengers schedule and the scout teams. Prolonged silences were nothing unusual but still unsettling.

“She would have checked the stations on her way here,” he argued but Ajay just shrugged.

“You know how it is out there, she probably had to take a detour or she would have been here already.” Quinn opened his mouth to respond but Ajay pre-empted him by saying, “Well, I’ll check up with Lin on our equipment, make sure it runs properly”, before he left.

Instead Quinn got joined by Barlow as company who had apparently decided that today was a nice day to leave his tower.

“The woman looks like trouble”, he muttered and was gone again.

Quinn squinted down. The young woman that leaned against Creedy looked pretty and young if a bit shell-shocked but not like trouble.

From downstairs Creedy looked up and grinned. Quinn felt himself relax. He knew it was necessary but he still hated whenever Creedy went out there.

The buzz died down fairly soon. They would all see more of the new inhabitants of the castle than they would like.

Quinn’s thoughts wandered towards one of the boys Creedy brought in, the smaller one, standing alone. If Quinn was right then he was an orphan. At least it didn’t seem like he belonged to either the man and the other boy or the young woman. Orphans were unusual. Kids without parents normally died or were adopted by someone, like Jared, Quinn thought and smiled.

“I could hear you think from down there”, Quinn turned around and found himself face to face with Creedy.

“It was nothing.”

Creedy sighed and wrapped an arm around Quinn’s shoulders. “It’s always nothing with you and in the end we run up and down the mountains of Scotland.”

“That was one time!” Quinn protested, “And it was ten years ago. You always come up with this old story.”

“It’s a good story. Jared likes it.”

“Jared likes every story you tell. Even though you always seem to be the hero of the story.”

“Hey, you came up with the Star Wars play.”

The first time he had told Jared this story had been when they had still lived on the road. Creedy, who had lain behind him, had snickered the whole time when he hadn’t interrupted Quinn’s tale with details that Jared really hadn’t needed to know.

It was still one of Quinn’s favourite memories.

“Yes and I’m still not clear on why I let you take the part of the hero.”

Creedy leaned close and whispered into Quinn’s ear, “Maybe because I can be very, very persuasive.”

“You need some new lines”, Quinn grinned and blushed as Creedy used his position to press a kiss behind Quinn’s ear. He had never gotten used to Creedy’s public displays of affection that Creedy loved so much. Although Quinn suspected that he loved it especially because they made Quinn blush.

“Quinn, Creedy”, it was Jerry who greeted them. Quinn immediately let go of Creedy. He and Jerry wanted to go over some plans for a sprinkler system in the shelter. The council had already approved of the plan. They all knew it was better to be prepared for the worst case scenario. It would take time, of course, rare materials and lots of careful planning and hard work but it could make the difference between life and death in case of a direct attack on the castle.

Creedy nodded at Quinn and Jerry, “I’m going to check on the new guys, give them a tour around. See you for dinner, right?”

“Sure.”

 

 

He found Paddy and Claire in the mess hall. Claire looked even better cleaned up if a bit shy but he could appreciate her big blue eyes which made her ridiculously pretty for the world they lived in. The boys had apparently been found by the other children and taken off with them.

In contrast to the adrenaline rushed morning the afternoon shaped out to be pretty normal. He showed Claire and Paddy around and told them a bit of how things worked here (watch schedules, the school, some of the projects they had around here which meant mostly maintaining the castle and the tending to the fields and the scout teams).

Afterwards he and Paddy joined Matt, Michael (Eddie’s son, not Michael Ajay’s best friend and their best scout, Creedy explained to a slightly bemused looking Paddy) and Lin to store away their harvest in the new store rooms.

“You have fresh tomatoes”, Paddy’s eyes widened.

“Don’t get too used to them”, Michael grinned, “Sooner or later you’ll be sick of them, promise.”

“I haven’t seen a fresh fruit in nearly 8 years”, Paddy told them. “If you’re sick of tomatoes then imagine how soon you would be sick of vitamin pills.”

“You win”, Michael conceded gracefully.

“Lin said that you had an emergency call transmitter”, Matt said while carefully placing tomatoes into the shallow bowls they kept the ones that they wouldn’t dry. “Why didn’t you try to build a radio?”

“We didn’t know how”, Paddy replied. “Could you build one?”

“No, not me, but Lin here and Ajay could probably take a computer”, he pronounced the word with the care of someone who didn’t use it often and had actually never seen a computer work,” and rebuild it into a flying pot or something like that.”

“A flying robot, Matt”, Lin rolled her eyes, “Ro-Bot, not a pot. And we won’t know that until you bring me a computer with enough parts to build one.”

Matt muttered something under his breath that the rest of them couldn’t understand but Lin had apparently heard enough to hit him on the arm, “Shut up.”

“You know it’s true.”

“No, it’s just your stupid, misaimed jealousy talking”, Lin hissed.

“Hey, kids, play nice while Paddy and I are out”, Creedy reminded them. Outside he said to Paddy in a conspirational voice, “Teenagers. I can’t remember being like that.”

“It was another world”, Paddy agreed and smiled back. He had laugh lines around his eyes and Creedy was pretty sure that he was going to like him.

When they came back Michael stood outside of the store room and loud voices could be heard from inside.

“I really wouldn’t go in there now”, Michael said as soon as Creedy and Paddy came around the corner, and took a potato sack from Paddy.

“It’s like Lucknow all over again”, Lucknow, humanity’s last battle against the Dragons- afterwards everyone had been left on their own.

“What happened?” Creedy asked just for the sake of it. He could guess well enough.

“Ajay came by.”

“Ajay is the…” Paddy trailed off.

“…radio operator. Studied engineer, he and Lin are friends and Matt is jealous.” Michael explained the, at the moment, castle’s most entertaining melodrama. “I would really prefer not to go in there again.”

They didn’t have to because at this moment the door opened and Lin stormed out with an expression on her face as if she would only be too glad to give in to her homicidal urges at any moment now. With a hurried, “I’ll be with Michael.” (The other Michael obviously) she ran upstairs and out of sight.

Matt emerged from the storeroom, looking no less angry than Lin had. Michael glanced sideways to hide his grin and Creedy unceremoniously handed Matt the potato sack.

 

 

The news that Lin and Matt had broken off this afternoon made their way through the castle fast. The last ones learned it at dinner when Matt sat with his family and Lin on the other side of the hall with Claire, Paddy and the two boys at Quinn’s and Creedy’s table.

Dinner was scarce as usual but it was warm and there were far worse things than mutton, potatoes and tomatoes.

Someone had helped Claire to wash her hair of the grime and now it glinted golden and curly in the firelight. For a post-apocalyptic world devoid of any make-up and other beauty aids she was breath-takingly beautiful.

Quinn, who was as usual silent and focused on his meal, looked up when Creedy leaned close, “Look at that.” He pointed more or less discreetly at Ajay, who sat at the next table. His meal was nearly untouched, mostly because he was too busy watching Lin with wide, hopeful looks and glaring at Paddy for the impudence of sitting next to Lin. He also didn’t notice the amused glances between Michael and Jerry behind his back. “Think he’ll ever make a move?”

“Ajay and Lin?” Quinn sounded as if the very idea had never crossed his mind before and voiced his surprise quite loudly. Luckily Lin was too distracted by Jared’s story of what he had done today with additional comments from Liam and Willem.

“He’s totally smitten with her”, Creedy explained amused, “What do you think was the reason why Matt was fought with Lin today?”

Quinn shrugged, “Lin broke up with Angus after a week without any reason. Maybe she doesn’t need a reason.”

“Now you’re being unfair. Her only reason to be with Angus was because they’re friends and he wanted to make Samira jealous.”

“You seem to know much about the people in this castle”, Claire chimed in, her big, blue eyes trained on Creedy.

“Well, someone has to since this one is too busy building tunnels”, he ruffled Quinn’s hair roughly which got him a nudge in the ribs and a sheepish smile in return.

Claire opened her mouth but before she could say anything, Willem asked, “Mr. Quinn, did you really outrun a dragon in a cave?” Six pairs of eyes suddenly focused on Quinn, even Lin, who had heard the story about ten times from Jared already.

Creedy on the other hand, dropped his head and muttered sarcastically, “Yeah, as if we haven’t heard that story yet.”

He listened how awkwardly Quinn tried to tell one of their near-death-experiences with a few sentences that consisted mainly of ‘we went in, we got lost, I got us unlost, we escaped.’ No wonder they played the stories for the children. Quinn was a much better as an actor than he was as a storyteller. Creedy still vividly remembered Quinn’s first re-telling of Star Wars and cringed internally.

“What Quinn really wanted to say was…”, he interrupted the scene in front of him by putting an arm around Quinn’s shoulders. And told their spellbound audience a mesmerizing tale of two dashingly good looking survivors of the greatest disaster that had ever hit humanity accompanied by a cranky old man and the last bird of earth and how this ragtag bunch escaped a fire-breathing monster when the brooding one of the two young heroes lead them through a dark and dangerous system of caves and tunnels that lay in the misty hills of Middle England. An adventure that was only surpassed by the one where the other hero had rescued his friends in the royal and magic mountains of Scotland.

 

 

“You’re a shameless show-off”, Quinn accused Creedy the same night when they finally lay in bed together. Creedy didn’t used to be a cuddler but Quinn, first as a possibility to share body heat and later as a sign of affection and trust, had broken him into it.

“No, I was just polishing the truth. What do you supposed King Arthur and his Knights did? Come home and stumbling over an encounter with three rogues with bad teeth and a club as their only weapon? No, they told lavish tales of foreign armies, evil witches and wizards and monstrous beasts they fought off single-handily to rescue a beautiful maiden and, if said knight was already married, saw her off safely to her rightful husband.”

“We never rescued any maidens.”

“I rescued Claire today. I think she qualifies as a beautiful maiden.”

“So you’re going t marry her?” Quinn yawned widely.

Creedy grinned. “No, I’ve already got my beautiful maiden. Only he’s not a maiden. Not anymore at least”, Creedy smirked and then yelped when Quinn pinched the naked skin of his stomach where his shirt had ridden up. “But he’s very beautiful.”

“You didn’t rescue me”, Quinn pointed out to change the subject since he could feel that he was blushing. “That was Barlow.”

“And Barlow promptly handed you over to me since he had no use for you.”

“You make me sound like a piece of lost baggage”, Quinn protested.

“I’m not sure I want to know what goes on in that head of yours”, Creedy mused while stroking Quinn’s hair, “But that’s an, while unusual, apt description of your rescue.”

 

 

Quinn’s graveyard shift began with a dragon alarm, filled with 30 minutes of undiluted terror until Barlow gave notice that the beast had passed, and ended with Abby’s arrival at Northumberland. Abby was the designated messenger of Edinburgh. Before the war she , well she had been a teenager, but like Creedy she had been old enough to get a proper army training. It qualified her for the most dangerous job that their four communities knew and it was the same reason why Creedy had the same job, no matter how much Quinn hated it to send him out there for weeks and weeks on end in the wild, unprotected from marauders and dragons.

Quinn greeted Abby at the gate but as soon as he saw her he knew that something was wrong. Her clothes, her face, the gauntness and exhaustion and grime that clung to her like the smell of ashes to the air told him that something horrible had happened. That and the group of equally exhausted looking people that came with her through the gate. Quinn recognized two of them as Aamira and Tarka, who had moved from Northumberland to Edinburgh.

“Quinn”, From near he could see dried tear tracks on her face, “Quinn, we were ambushed. There were dragons and-“, she had to take a deep breath. “They burned everything. There were four of them. I couldn’t…I was outside when it happened. Some came running “, she gestured to the other survivors, “but no-one else survived. We waited until we could check the caves but no one was there. I think no one saw them coming.”

Quinn grabbed her shoulders, “Are you sure?”

She nodded, hanging nearly limb with exhaustion in his grip. “We looked for them for days. There’s just us.”

“Quinn”, Eddie stepped nearer, “Norwich and Pembury need to know this.”

“First we bring them inside and get them something to eat”, Quinn answered gruffly. Eddie made a face but said nothing.

Quinn felt very much like sitting down for a moment but he couldn’t. There were things to do. They had to accommodate another twenty people and they had to send out the scouts to inform Norwich and Pembury since the radio was down again.

An hour later the Council was listening to Abby’s story. The Council was an assembly of every adult in the castle; every important decision was made here even though most people were content to let Quinn handle the everyday stuff.

The crowd was silent while Abby spoke. Edinburgh had been their closest ally, tied to them by the close geographic and some family ties. 200 dead that was the largest number of deaths in Britain since the Last Battle of Meryton.

Creedy only listened with one ear. His gaze swept over the people in the hall, silent yes but some were crying, others, like Eddie, looked determined. The only one who wasn’t there was Barlow but then Barlow was never anywhere but in his tower and still knew everything. Maybe Ajay told him or maybe his bird or maybe he was psychic. Creedy had long since given up to figure out how Barlow’s mind worked.

Ajay sat between Michael and Lin, looking worried. He knew that if the Council decided then Michael would have to go out there just like Creedy. Losing your friend was the risk you took when you were friends with a messenger. Of course, Quinn had become his friend long before they had reached Northumberland.

Quinn hated him going out there, Creedy knew it even though Quinn had never said a word. Necessity before everything else was Quinn’s creed. They wouldn’t have survived this long otherwise but the prices they had paid were high: Lin’s parents, two of Eddie’s children and his first wife, Malcolm the chemicist and hundred others who now rested in the graveyard.

 

 

The Council’s vote was decided unanimously and the decision of any possible action was forwarded to the Higher Council which meant Quinn, Noel, Tarek and Aamira, the respective heads of their communities, even though Quinn hated it fiercely when someone called him ’leader’.

Creedy saw Ajay hug Michael and felt Quinn hovering close over his shoulder. Erasing about 99% of world’s population had also erased a lot of prejudices and traditions. Everyone was free to touch because they all knew too painfully well that there would be a time when they couldn’t anymore. Death was always looming, above them in the sky and among them. Infections had taken as much of them as the dragons had.

Michael gave Creedy a sign that they would meet in ten minutes so that they both had enough time to say goodbye, before he cleared the room together with the rest of the Council except for Creedy and Quinn.

There was nothing to say and Quinn didn’t. He simply sat down next to Creedy and when Creedy wrapped his arm around Quinn’s waist, he leaned his head on Creedy’s shoulder.

They sat like that for a little while until Creedy said, “I’ll better go and say goodbye to Jared.”

Quinn let go only reluctantly but he knew that there was no choice.

 

 

Saying goodbye to Jared was almost harder than saying goodbye to Quinn. At least Quinn wasn’t crying and clinging to his coat.

“Don’t go”, Jared sobbed, “please don’t go.”

“It’ll be alright”, Creedy promised him. “I’ll be back in couple weeks.”

“You don’t know that”, Jared answered stubbornly.

“Yeah, well, but you got to look after Quinn for me, will you?” Creedy kneeled down and took Jared’s face in his hands. “But don’t, don’t let him tell you any stories.”

That made Jared smile a little, “You promise you’ll be back?”

“There’s no dragon in the whole wide world that could keep me away from you two”, Creedy said solemnly and kissed Jared on the forehead. He waved Quinn to come closer.

“Now, remember, what do we do when wake?”

“Keep both eyes on the sky”, Jared replied dutifully.

“What we do we do when we sleep?” Quinn joined in.

“Keep one eye on the sky.”

“And what do we do when we see him?”

“Dig hard. Dig deep. Run for shelter. Never. Look. Back.”

“Good”, Creedy kissed Jared once more before pulling Quinn into a tight embrace. “Take care of yourself”; he whispered. He held on for a few more moment but let go eventually, only pressing a quick goodbye kiss on Quinn’s lips.

He and Michael stopped at the front gate for one last look back and Creedy winked at Quinn and Jared with an ease he didn’t feel before heading out on the road.  



	2. The dead are better off than we

The moment when the gate was opened for them was the best Creedy had felt in a long time. Four weeks on the road never felt like four weeks, he had learned that early on. Either time flew by in a rush of adrenaline and running or it flowed slowly by like hills and meadows and small rivers during a hike.

Day and night didn’t matter either. You couldn’t stop until you had found shelter and those were hard to find in a world that had been literally burnt to the ground. Also, you had to watch out for marauders. Survival meant all means necessary and a strong man like Creedy could feet a family for a month if they had a possibility to preserve meat.

For once, there had been no problems. Well, nearly no problems. Creedy had broken his arm when he had dived into a ditch to but thanks to the real doctor they had at Pembury it was painful but going to mend. 

He and Michael had parted in the area where Peterborough had once been and met there again four days ago.  
Tarek, the leader of Pembury had been shocked but there had been no doubt, no hesitation on his part when he followed Creedy.

Four weeks and Creedy’s too few dreams had centred on this moment: the moment when he was home and Quinn would greet him. Instead he found himself face to face with Jared, who looked like someone had died.

Please no, Creedy thought. He had only been gone four weeks, Quinn couldn’t just have become ill and die only that Creedy knew only too well that he could have. Without any antibiotics every infection was a matter of life and death.  
“Jared...”  
“It’s Quinn, he’s ill, Creedy”, Creedy close his eyes for a moment and exhaled as relief washed over him. Ill was not dead. Ill meant that there was still a chance. Jared looked at his arm in a sling a bit frightened, as if he expected Creedy to keel over at any moment.

“How is he?”

Instead of an answer, Jared looked down at his feet.

Oh.

 

A grim line appeared around Creedy’s mouth. He followed Jared and let Rose and, to his surprise, Paddy handle their guests. 

The infirmary contained two small rooms in a collapsed tower on the east-side. One was the emergency room where Samira patched up wounds and set bones as well as she could. The other was the Death Room. It was for people with infectious illnesses and most of them who had went inside lay now buried in the graveyard.

Samira stopped them in front of them room. “Not you”, she said to Jared, who looked more than ready to protest.

“But Creedy’s here now!” He said with the fervour of a ten-year-old boy not allowed to see his parent. 

Creedy looked to Samira but she shook her head, “I cannot risk it, sorry.”

Creedy gripped Jared by his shoulders and looked him in the eyes, “You can see Quinn when he’s better, promise.”

“And if he isn’t better?” Jared asked back. 

Creedy ruffled his hair. “I don’t know”, he said truthfully, “I don’t know.”

 

The room was warm and lit with a few candles, centred around the bed where Quinn lay, shivering even though it was warm and his face was slick with sweat.

Creedy felt like a cold, hard hand had gripped his heart and squeezed tight. He was glad that Jared wasn’t here with him because he never wanted the boy too see Quinn like this.

Gingerly he sat down at the edge of the bed. “How do you think...” He wanted to know first but then made a harsh motion with his hand. “How long has he been ill?” He asked instead.

“Ten days. He had helped with a leak in the reservoir.”

Of course he had, the damn imbecile.

“There’s nothing I can do”, Samira continued, “either he’ll fight it off alone or he dies.”

“He won’t”, snapped Creedy. 

Samira shrugged. ”I’ll give you a minute. You can’t stay too long either. After four weeks out there the risk is too high, especially with that,” she pointed at his arm. “Denny sat that?”

“He did.”

“One minute”, Samira stressed.

“I know.”

The door closed behind her.

Creedy was only five years older than Quinn but in 2000 that had meant a lot more than it did now. It had meant that Creedy had been old enough to join the army to fight the dragons when they had so quickly run out of soldiers. People around him had kept dying, only Creedy was miraculously spared. He made it to Captain in two years, merely by surviving. It had made him very good at compartmentalizing. He put everything in a little metaphoric box and label it with a bad joke should it ever come up. It had kept people from coming too close to him for a long time.

Then he met Barlow with his dragon detecting bird, probably the last bird left on the planet, and Quinn, a small and skinny fifteen year old kid with dark, smouldering eyes and so very serious that Creedy just had to see how he could make him crack a grin.

He still did that. Quinn was still skinny and gruff and so goddamn serious all the time.

Creed sighed and stroked Quinn’s hair with his fingers. Quinn was the first one that Creedy had let close enough in a long time. He was not allowed to die. Not now, not ever. People needed him, not only Creedy or Jared but all of them here in Northumberland and they did now more than ever before.

“You hear that you stupid, self-sacrificing imbecile?” Creedy told Quinn, “You better get better soon. I’m not putting up with these people only because you think that now would be a convenient time to become ill.”

He knew that he shouldn’t stay too long but he couldn’t bring himself to leave. If the community had survived the last ten days without Quinn or Creedy telling everyone where to go and what to do then they could do so for another few hours without having the castle’s walls crumbling around them, well, crumbling more than they did anyway.

Instead he sat there at the edge of Quinn’s bed and told him about his journey to Pembury. He tried to think of the good things, of the few beautiful things left in the world that he had seen and not on the vast, bare fields and the charred ruins of what had once been houses and settlements full of people, who had known nothing of the monsters that had slept underneath their feet.

Creedy told him about how grass had claimed many of the old villages, about a mouse picking up the crumbs of his provision one evening and about the new faces he’d seen in Pembury. Children, yes and people like Paddy and Claire and Liam and Willem, people who still hid out there. They were not alone and they would survive if Quinn would survive this. That was the task Creedy sat for him.

“You can’t expect us to survive and then don’t do it yourself”, Creedy told him as a parting, Samira already impatiently tapping her foot in the doorway.

 

The castle seemed to be buzzing with activity even more than usual. Three dragon sightings in the last two days were unsettling not to mention unusual for the season. Everyone was ready to bolt at any moment. 

The High Council meeting wouldn’t be until tomorrow and Creedy briefly entertained the thought of postponing it until Quinn could attend it himself but the notion was ridiculous. Noel and Tarek needed to go back to their own settlements and no one knew how long it would take Quinn to recover.

He sent Jared off to the other children, again promising that he could see Quinn as soon as he was better before going to Ajay. 

Ajay wasn’t in but Lin was, apparently listening to whoever was on the other side of the radio.

“Something important?” He asked her after she had hung up.

“Norwich had had some problems with marauders: three injured, one dead and two of three probably won’t make it. Also they had a lot more dragon sightings than usual, the same happened in Pembury and here.”

“No attacks?”

“Apparently not. Given the size of Edinburgh that’s going to feed them for some time.”

“Did Abby or one of the others say anything what might have given them away to the dragons?”

Lin shook her head. “Bad luck, I’d say”, she shrugged, “Abby’s torturing herself over this already. I think she believes it to be her fault.”

“She might have done it involuntarily. In the army we had a saying that anyone who came too near to a living dragon would carry the fire back to the base.”

“So by surviving she may get us all killed, how nice”, Lin muttered darkly.

“There’s probably not much truth to it if half of the stuff Barlow told me about you is right”, Ajay said from the door with an ironic touch to his voice.

“Tell me if anything else comes through”, Creedy hurried outside, not keen to hear Ajay share stories about him and Quinn and Barlow from Barlow’s point of view. For all he owed to the guy he was not terribly fond of him.

It was only early afternoon but Creedy considered going to bed because he had spent the last four weeks on the road and desperately needed some sleep, especially for the meeting tomorrow. On the other hand, he felt restless with leftover adrenaline from said four weeks that wouldn’t allow him to go to sleep now.

Instead he looked for Abby, maybe there had been something in the caves under Edinburgh that was still worth saving once the dragon activity died down. 200 dead or not they had to relocate the things worth scavenging: food, soap, meds, clothes, seeds and furniture or technical or mechanic devices that had been stored away, hell with the dragons burning everything in their sight wood had become a valuable commodity.

“Creedy!” It wasn’t Abby but Eddie, who looked very serious which nearly always translated to trouble.

“There has been some talk around here”, Eddie began without preamble, “about Edinburgh and how we’re going to deal with it.”

“This is why the High Council is here”, reminded Creedy him.

“It’s about how you’re going to stand for it”, Eddie continued, ignoring Creedy’s comment.

“Quinn’s standpoint is clear. You know that you and you all here agreed with it: Dig in, outlast them.”

“This was before Edinburgh”, Eddie argued.

“Look”, said Creedy, “Edinburgh doesn’t change anything. It isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last, you and I both know that.”

“You could reconsider your position now without Quinn.”

“Quinn’s not dead”, Creedy reminded him harshly, “so don’t make plans as if he is.”

He left Eddie standing there, looking distinctively unhappy but Creedy couldn’t care less. He found Abby and Rose and went over with them what Edinburgh had had stored in the caves that Abby could remember and what Northumberland had. Now with more people to feed they needed to cut the rations until the fields could be enlarged in spring.

After that Michael found him, wanting to discuss how to fit the new people into the watch schedule rooster and Paddy, who had been put in charge of the craftsmen mostly because he had been one Before, had a list with the most necessary repairs that needed to be done before the castle would collapse around them.

Jerry also tried to talk to him about the planned water system in the caves but Creedy told him in no uncertain terms that this was Quinn’s project and therefore he had to wait until Quinn was better. Jerry gave him a highly doubtful look at that but was smart enough to refrain from actually saying that Quinn would die rather sooner than later.

He wanted to see Quinn again but Samira was adamantly against it and after good ten minutes of yelling threats and cursing her to hell he gave up.

“You can see him tomorrow when I looked at your arm before the meeting.”

 

Without Quinn he didn’t want to perform their little evening theatre for the kids and instead just wanted to do the prayer but 27 children begging for a story? Defeating a dragon single-handedly would have been easier.

“What do you want to hear then?”

Among: “The Lion King!” and “The White and the Black Knight!” one child demanded, “A new one!”

Creedy rubbed his hands. A new story he could do, if he could remember a story or a film he had seen that was suitable for children. The last movie he had seen Before had been American Psycho and a man slaughtering people out of boredom was not a story suitable for children. Instead he settled for a re-tell of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

“There once was a beautiful woman who protected travellers and she loved a man who loved her back but neither would ever be with the other for she was spoken to another man that was dead….”

Creedy liked telling stories but he missed Quinn at his side and their little plays. Quinn couldn’t tell a story to save his life but his talent as an actor would have made him famous in another life. It felt wrong, saying the prayer without Quinn. Back in the first night, each of them had added a line for Jared to remember: Quinn, Barlow and Creedy. On the nights where Barlow hadn’t been there Creedy had taken his line and they had kept it this way. This was the first time he had so say it alone.

“What do we do when we wake?”

“Keep both eyes on the sky.”

“What do we do when we sleep?”

“Keep one eye on the sky.”

“What do we do when we see him?”

“Dig hard. Dig deep. Run for shelter. Never. Look. Back.”

 

The room where he and Quinn slept had been the first one they had cleared out after arriving here. When more and more people had come to the castle sleeping quarters had mostly moved elsewhere, even Jared who had insisted that he would sleep with the other children, but Quinn and Creedy had kept the room.

“Hi”, the woman that had apparently waited for him had blonde hair and looked familiar but Creedy couldn’t remember her name at the moment.

“What can I do for you, uhm…”

“Claire”, she provided with a bright smile, “You saved me from dying the day before you left.”  
“Claire, is there anything…?”

“You must be lonely”, she placed a hand on his arm, “After all these days out there and with your friend ill now.” She gave him a wide, hopeful smile that made Creedy feel uncomfortable.

“Quinn’s not just my friend, he’s my partner and I won’t cheat on him”, for once that failed to have the desired effect.

“I just want you to show my gratefulness”, Claire practically purred.

“Yes, thank you”, Creedy said rather briskly, “but if someone deserves your gratitude then it’s Paddy. I-“

“Oh, hey Creedy!” Lin practically danced over the last steps and into the corridor. She frowned when she saw his arm. “Did you lose a wrestling match?”

“Do you even know what wrestling is?” Creedy asked, silently relived that Lin had shown up.

“That depends entirely whether Ajay’s definition of beautiful, naked people having brawls in mud is correct or not”, Lin turned her wide grin to Claire where it lost just a fraction of its brilliance. “Hey, Claire I think Jess wants you in the kitchen.”

“I’ll see you then”, Claire waved at him before she climbed downstairs. 

As soon as Lin supposed Claire was away far enough, she rolled her eyes. ‘She has a huge crush on you, you know?!’ Lin asked conventionally.

“You don’t say.”

“She’s perfectly beautiful, healthy, you could start a family.”

“In case you haven’t noticed I already have a family.” And just to be mean he asked, “How are things between you and Ajay?”

“Very, very slowly progressing from standing still to the first step.”

“You know it could help if you wouldn’t date another boy each month.”

“Because you’re so good at relationships”, she rolled her eyes dismissively. “When faced with the decision between Quinn and Barlow the answer’s pretty obvious. Hell, I think even Eddie would have taken Quinn.”

Creedy shuddered, “I’m going to pretend that you didn’t say that.”

“Good luck with your denial. How is he anyway?”

“Eddie?” Because he just couldn’t let that one slip.

“No, Quinn. Jared’s convinced that he’s going to die”, Lin shared her bunk with Jared since he had decided that he was old enough to sleep with the other children.

“He’s not going to die”, Creedy answered adamantly.

“Hopefully, but on the other hand if he does could you and Paddy do a wrestling match for leadership?” She quipped.

“No, you don’t understand: Quinn is not going to die”, Creedy repeated, “and I don’t want to hear anyone talking about it.”

“Okay, okay”, Lin held up her hands in surrender.

“Did you want something since you came up here?”

“Nope, just saw Claire following you and thought you might be in need of some rescuing after she couldn’t shut up about you for the last four weeks even after everyone told her that you and Quinn are practically married.” She rolled her eyes and not for the first time Creedy wondered if her eyes didn’t hurt from it.

“How did it happen, then? You and Quinn?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Maybe it gives me some inspiration how do deal with Ajay? I’m desperate here.”

“Then this won’t help you. Quinn and me was pretty much “oh my god, we’re going to die” thing.”

“Thanks, anyway. Good luck with the Council tomorrow”, she smiled, “Good night.”

“Night.”

Creedy was not surprised to see Jared on his old bed when he entered the room. With Quinn ill and Creedy gone it couldn’t have been easy for him.

Once Creedy had settled on the bed, Jared crawled in too and cuddled between Creedy’s arms and his chest.

“Quinn is going to die, isn’t he?” He asked in a small voice.

“No, he isn’t.” No matter what he would have to do to ensure that Quinn wouldn’t die.

“I’m sorry I didn’t take care of him”, Jared whispered.

“Jared, this is not your fault”, Creedy told him. “Never, ever think that. And as soon as Quinn gets better you can see him.”

“Promise?”

“Yes, I promise you.”

Jared fell asleep almost instantly but Creedy lay away, staring at the ceiling. The conversation with Lin had made him remember the first time he had kissed Quinn.

It had happened had been a back alley somewhere in the burnt ruins of Luton. All three of them had been on their feet for the last 48 hours. This close to London there had always been a dragon waiting around the corner. Luton had held the promise of cover in form of abandoned cellars or left food, maybe soap or even some medicine.

Barlow had been – somewhere – when they had heard the tell-tale rush of wings and the roar with which the beasts liked to announce an attack. Without thinking Creedy had pushed Quinn into the back alley and pressed him tightly against a wall, covering him with his own body for all the good it would have done if the dragon had found them.

Quinn had been a kid then, barely sixteen maybe, no one counted days anymore - at least none of them did - a shivering, skinny kid in too big jumpers and too small trousers that made Creedy feel protective of him. They had stood there, pressed against each other, waiting for the burn of fire or the rush of wings that would set them free for another day.

Quinn had clutched Creedy’s shirt with his fingers and looked up to him, and even though or maybe because they could have died there and then, Creedy had leaned down and kissed him. 

It had been the final piece to the puzzle of emotions that Quinn had aroused in him right since their first meeting: belonging, possession, protectiveness, jealousy, the need to be with him at all times, to touch whenever he could think of a reason to do so.

The world around them had been burning and they had kissed with the knowledge of how mortal they were and how easily they could lose all this.

After that they had always been together, eating, sleeping, arguing within inches of each other for close to eleven years now.

Creedy remembered the first time they had had sex, here in this room actually, on this bed. There had been hurried handjobs under the cover when they had been on the road to stave off the worst desire but privacy had been hard to come by, especially after they had picked up Jared.

And then they had come here and suddenly he and Quinn had found themselves in this room with Jared occupied elsewhere.

Creedy smiled at the memory but pushed it away to finally get some sleep.

 

The alarm sounded at 5 o’clock, an hour before Creedy’s shift began. As soon as the wailing alarm had woken him, Creedy leapt of the bed and grabbed Jared.

“Rose!”

“Creedy, have you seen Jared?”

“He’s here.” He pushed Jared towards the other children.

“23, 24…27. Okay, I have all of them.” Rose waved at the adults to follow the kids. That was the golden rule: children first.

“Where’s Quinn?” Creedy wanted to know as soon as he saw Samira.

“He’s upstairs.” She grabbed his arm, “Creedy, it’s too dangerous.”

“It’s Quinn. We can’t just leave him behind.”

“He’s ill, Creedy. You know we can’t take the chance.”

“She’s right”, Lin had turned up with Ajay and Michael behind her. “You’re in charge now, Creedy. Act like it.”

Creedy hesitated for a moment, holding Lin’s gaze. Finally he looked away, shouting, ”Everyone! Into the caves!”

He waved people inside and mentally counted them: 57, Eddie, 58 Rachel, 59 Matt, 60 Michael... “Rose! Do we have people on the fields?”

“No, why?”

“Someone’s missing.”

“Creedy!” It was Claire. Suddenly she clung firmly to him, eyes wide with fear.

“Everyone’s in.” He and Paddy closed the door after he had dispatched Claire.

“What do we do when we wake?” He asked, kneeling down and folding his hands.

“Keep both eyes on the sky.”

“What do we do when we sleep?”

“Keep one eye on the sky.”

“What do we do when we see him?”

“Dig hard. Dig deep. Run for shelter. Never. Look. Back.”

The minutes trickled by as slowly as honey from a spoon. Jared had curled up in his lap again and was fast asleep as were most of the children. Some of the adults were talking quietly but most were leaning against something or someone and waited.

At one point Claire had come over and leaned against his shoulder, which Creedy had barely noticed. This shaped up to be one of the worst days of his life. He had promised Jared that he wouldn’t let Quinn die and yet, maybe he was dead already. A little human contact was nothing.

Suddenly the door opened and startled everyone until Barlow stuck his head through the gap and bellowed, “Your radio is broken again”, at Ajay, who looked so dazed that Creedy bet he had been asleep until ten seconds ago.

“Everything’s clear”, Barlow added as if that should have been obvious. Maybe it was but the night had been too short for complex thought processes.

 

He sat on the edge of Quinn’s bed again. Sometimes he used a wet cloth to cool Quinn’s burning skin a bit but it felt useless, like a drop in the ocean. Lin would come to get him once the High Council meeting began but until then nothing would make him leave his room, not when he had come so close to losing Quinn today.

“I have an admirer”, he told Quinn, “the new girl Claire, but don’t worry she talks too much. You know how much I like someone who can go entire days without saying more than 20 words at all. And I think Lin is finally together with Ajay, or at least I hope so. I mean poor Matt because he was quite in love with her but really, any imbecile could see that Lin and Ajay are practically made for each other. You know, when I was outside I thought about how none of us would have ever met if the dragons hadn’t come out. I mean I’m from Glasgow and you’re from London, how high would the chances have been that we had met or that we had stayed together. No, you know what, if you don’t wake up soon I’m going to elope with Claire.” Creedy slipped his fingers between Quinn’s. “I just want you to wake up again and we’ll see everything else from there”, he whispered. 

There was a knock on the door and Lin stuck her head inside, “Creedy, the meeting...”

“I’m coming”, he said maybe a bit too loudly. He squeezed Quinn’s hand a last time and then joined Lin outside.

“I admire your faith, you know.”

“It’s not faith just extensive knowledge of how stubborn Quinn can be”, he replied, hating that he seemed to be the only one who didn’t see Quinn as good as dead already.

“I don’ t know if I would react like you if I was in your position.”

“I’ve never seen Ajay ill”, Creedy tried to reassure her.

“I talked with him, you know, last night”, Lin told him, “he said I should find someone my own age.”

Creedy felt the sudden urge to go and shake Ajay until he grew some common sense. Why was he surrounded by all these self-sacrificing imbeciles?

“And what did you say?”, He asked her.

“I told him that it doesn’t matter to me but he was pretty adamant about it, so this I took a leaf out of your book this morning when the alarm sounded and just kissed him”, she grinned.

“You’re a legend”, Creedy laughed.

“We haven’t seen each other since but I guess that made my point come across pretty strongly. Anyway”, she waved her hand dismissively as if to physically push aside any more questions and/or revelations, “you need to concentrate on your meeting.”

“You know as well as everyone what we decided: Dig in. Outlast them. Even if Noel has a different opinion, I’m not going to argue against our council.”

“You mean you’re not going to argue against Quinn’s decision.”

“Our decision”, he stressed, “all of us decided that.”

Lin shrugged. “You as well as anyone else who has ever met Quinn know what a presence he has. It’s hard to stand against someone you explicitly trust.”

“You mean if Quinn had argued for attacking them –“

“I would have followed him”, Lin picked up. “You don’t see him like the rest of us, do, Creedy.”

“What do you mean?”

Lin shrugged again. “I know that when you sat this up you wanted it to be democratic and what-not with the council and everything but effectively this whole place exists because we follow Quinn – and you”, she added. “Barely anyone ever argues with Quinn’s decisions because mostly they’re good decisions. It’s easier and faster to go with his opinion. An apocalyptic world is not really a world for democracy.”

“I’ve never seen it like this”, Creedy admitted.

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s not bad. We’re here, we’re alive and we’re a lot safer than any of us were living on the road. It’s maybe not what you wanted but it kept us alive so far and if Quinn dies, you’ll have to keep us alive”, she searched his eyes for an answer and seemed to be satisfied with what she found. “It doesn’t mean you have to lead into a fight against the dragons, either.”

“I’m not going to. Fighting never ends well.”

 

In the end the decision was not his to make. Noel had always been eager for action and Abby, while leaving the choice whether or not to follow his crusade to each survivor individually, she herself had nothing to lose. Her whole surviving family was dead now including her children and wife. Creedy had never examined to closely what he would likely do if he ever lost Jared or Quinn, or both of them. It didn’t bear much thinking about, really.

“Why aren’t we joining them?” Eddie asked when they watched Abby and everyone else from Edinburgh who wanted to fight, leave.

“It was our decision”, Creedy reminded him, “Dig in, outlast them.”

“We have more mouths to feed and less food and medicine than ever.”

Creedy ran a hand over his face. As if he didn’t know that. “We have other options. Abby gave Michael some maps. We can send a party into the Highlands, maybe even to Orkney and the Hebrids.”

“For what? Maybe you can eat hope, my kids can’t.”

“If you think getting killed will help them then you can go with them right now”, Creedy yelled angrily at Eddie.

“I followed you for four years and buried a wife and two of my kids on the road”, Eddie yelled back.

“Which was why we came here”, Creedy reminded him sharply. “Look”, he added defeated and tired, “I fought in Brighton. We can’t defeat them, not like that. They’ll have to go back to sleep once there’s not enough food left for them. We only have to hold up that long.”

“Another twenty years? Another forty? How long?”

“As long as it takes.”  
Eddie turned to leave but he asked over his shoulder, “What makes you think that we’re not the dinosaurs this time?”

“Not even all of those died out”, Creedy reminded him with a small grin, “or else there wouldn’t have been birds and reptiles.”

“Well”, Eddie said, “I’ve always wanted wings.”

“Creedy“, it was Samira who had called him and she was smiling. “Quinn’s fever broke. He’ll make it.”

Creedy kissed her. He stormed up the stairs and found Jared sitting outside of Quinn’s room. He hoisted him up and whirled him around, laughing.

“Creedy?” Jared asked bemused.  
Creedy ruffled his hair, still grinning and pulled him close. “Quinn will be okay. He will be fine.”

“Promise?” Jared asked as if he was expecting Creedy to lie to him which neither Creedy nor Quinn had ever done. No use to mollycoddle a child that had to grow up in a world like this.

“I promise,” Creedy told him solemnly and a bright smile broke out on Jared’s face. “Can I see him?”

“I’ll get you when he wakes up properly”, Creedy promised him. Samira probably wouldn’t be happy but damn her, what harm could five minutes do?

 

“You look tired”, Quinn said when Creedy came into the room. Samira had finally agreed to let Quinn out of the infirmary as long as he took it easy and to ensure that Creedy had locked the door.

“Here, saved some of Jess’s stew for you, although both Ajay and Jared swear that it is not as good as yours”, he sat the tray with the bowl and the spoon on Quinn’s outstretched legs.

“You locked me in”, Quinn accused him with a dark look in his eyes.

“Quinn, you know that otherwise you wouldn’t have stayed in this room and Samira would have done to me what she described in great detail she would do before she released you into my care.”

Quinn ignored him in favour of his stew.

“Come on, Quinn”, Creedy hit Quinn’s arm, “I want you back on your feet too but you need to take it easy. Hell, the sooner Eddie goes back to complaining to you instead of me the better for me but only when you’re not looking like skeleton anymore. That and I’m too tired to argue with you. As long as Samira doesn’t say anything else you’re my slave and have to do what I want. Now move over.”

Quinn snorted and Creedy could see his grin when he climbed into the bed and under the covers next to Quinn.

“When are you on shift?” Quinn asked.  
“Don’t worry”, Creedy mumbled, already falling asleep, “I traded.”

Quinn hated to admit it if only to himself but even carrying the tray from the bed to the table was exhausting but he hadn’t wanted to wake Creedy for something so trivial since he was already dead to the world and looked like he needed any minute of sleep he could get.

After resting for a few moments against the desk he dragged himself back to the bed and slipped under the cover next to Creedy. He curled on his side and watched Creedy breathe. His own body wanted to sleep, needed to sleep badly but he didn’t want to miss this. It had been a whole goddamn month and he didn’t want to fall asleep now….

 

“And everyone says that Paddy is getting quite close to Rose, although everyone would have guessed that he and Claire…I mean they lived together for who-knows-how-long, but then Claire and Creedy are clearly an item so I guess he’s accepting his loss and decided to move on.”  
The mention of Creedy’s name made Quinn listen up. Lily was one of the survviro’s from Edinburgh and had come over with something to eat since Creedy was too busy with the repairs on the east wing but for Quinn’s taste she was a bit too gossipy.

“Creedy and Claire?” He asked to make sure he hadn’t misheard her.

“Oh, yes, I mean it’s obvious. She had a crush on him since the first day. I think it’s quite the fairytale romance, you know, since he rescued her and all that.”

“Like a knight in a shining armour”, Quinn agreed, feeling like he was breathing through shards of glass. “Lily, I’m sorry but I’m feeling quite sleepy.”

“Oh, I won’t keep you”, she said hastily, taking the bowl and retreating.

“It isn’t true”, Quinn told himself. “You know it isn’t.”

Creedy had never shown any interest in anyone but their conversation from the night before Creedy had left came back. Claire was beautiful and Creedy obviously thought so too. And Quinn had been gone for a long time. Creedy had to have thought he was dying or otherwise he would have never-

“No,” Quinn said decidedly, “it isn’t true.

 

“And then I took Claire out to the fields. She’s really good at math, you know, so we could measure how much we need to enlarge them to feed the newcomers as well”, Creedy told him the same night. He made a point to keep Quinn involved in everything that went on in the castle.

“So you and Claire, then”, Quinn couldn’t help but asking.

“Me and Claire what?”

“You’re pretty close.”

“She’s doing her best just like everyone else.”

“And she’s beautiful.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I don’t blame you. I mean I was practically dead.”

“Quinn, what are you talking about?”

“You’re sleeping with Claire.”

“What the hell gave you that idea?” Creedy asked in disbelief.

“Lily said-“

“Lily has more imagination than the rest of this bloody castle together”, Creedy tried to laugh it off but his eyes searched Quinn’s eyes and his expression sobered. “You really believed that. You believed that after everything we’ve been through I’d shag the first pretty face that comes my way as soon as you’re not there”, his tone grew more furious with every word. “Do you trust me at all?”

“Of course I trust you”, Quinn protested.

“No you don’t, not with this relationship or else you wouldn’t have believed Lily so easily.”

“I never meant to imply-“

“Fuck you, Quinn”, Creedy stood up, looking so hurt that it was painful for Quinn to breathe. “Fuck you.” The door shut loudly behind him.

 

Creedy didn’t come back, not that night, not the next or any other after that. Ajay came and Lin and Jared of course but not Creedy.

After a couple days Quinn dragged himself out of the room despite Samira’s protests only to learn that Creedy had left on a scouting mission to the north.

So Quinn slipped back into his old life, hiding from the others just how exhausted he felt on most days and tried to drown the lonlieness and hurt in work. 

 

“Hey, Quinn, wake up.” Creedy shook his shoulder slightly and Quinn woke up startled.

“Sorry, I was-“

“Napping, I can see that.” Creedy grinned, trying to sound normal but his face fell as soon as Quinn avoided his eyes. So he asked, “When was the last time you slept in bed?”

At least it made Quinn look at him directly.

“When was the last time you where here?”

That hurt more than Creedy had expected it to. He was about to reach out for Quinn when Quinn turned away and stood up, leaving the space by the radio vacant for Creedy.

“Anyway, have a good night. I should get some sleep.”

“Quinn...“ Creedy said which made the other man hesitate at the door.

“I’m sorry, you know”, Quinn said without turning back to him, “I shouldn’t have believed any of those things.”

Creedy sighed. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have run.” He walked over to Quinn and wrapped his arms around him. “I guess it should have been obvious that you weren’t exactly thinking rationally at that point.”

“You always miss the obvious”, Quinn teased him.

“I didn’t miss you”, Creedy said without missing a beat. Quinn turned around in his arms and kissed him for that.

 

Quinn looked up whenever Ajay or Lin came in from their shift at the radio but they were always shaking their heads, no news from Norwich.

“That doesn’t have to mean anything.” Creedy reminded him.

“I know.” Quinn replied unhappily. 

“Noel is probably still pouting at the Council’s decision. You know how he is.” He tried to keep his tone light and teasing but the lines around Quinn’s mouth didn’t vanish.

“Bloody hell, if you don’t stop frowning you’ll look like fifty within a month!” Creedy exclaimed dramatically. That worked. Quinn lost the closed off expression, ducking his head. “You’ll see, everything will be alright.”

They never heard from Norwich again.


End file.
